Sandy could impact unsuspecting used-car buyers

Andrew Burton / Getty Images

Superstorm Sandy made landfall Monday evening on a destructive and deadly path across the Northeast.

By Paul A. Eisenstein, The Detroit Bureau

It could be days, even weeks, before the storm-battered Eastern Seaboard dries out.? Brutal winds and extensive flooding, from Maine to the Carolinas, has wrecked homes and businesses, and left millions without power, even the New York subway system forced to close.

The destruction is likely to include thousands of vehicles damaged or destroyed by floodwater. In some cases, vehicles can be repaired. But many will have suffered extensive, irreparable damage and should be scrapped.? That doesn?t mean they will be.?

If recent history is any indication, a number of seriously flood-damaged vehicles will wind up on used car lots and sold to unsuspecting consumers. Experts say half of the vehicles damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Floyd were put back on the road.

?A car that?s been in a flood, with the engine submerged for any length of time, will never be the same,? said Carl Sullivan, who has nearly two decades of experience inspecting vehicles for AiM, a California-based team of auto inspectors.? ?It?s important for used car shoppers to know how to spot flood damage no matter where they live, because these cars can end up on a dealer lot anywhere in the country.?

Sandy Taking Steam Out of Strong Oct. Sales

Many states, such as New York and New Jersey, have strict rules covering vehicles that have been totaled in accidents or floods ? as well as those repurchased by a manufacturer under so-called lemon laws.

The good news is that the federal government began to require totaled vehicles be listed on a national database as of 2009.? But there are still ways to get around that, experts warn.?

Appropriately known as ?title washing,? crooked owners or dealers will sometimes move cars from state to state to state, as record-keeping and registration policies vary across the country and a notation that indicates the vehicle was wrecked in one state may ?wash? off when it?s moved to another state.

In some cases, AiM warns that scam artists may switch VINs, or Vehicle Identification Numbers, to eliminate the record of a car that was damaged by floodwaters.

Hot Wheels Chevy Camaro is no Toy

How many cars were damaged or destroyed by this week?s massive storm remains to be seen but as many as 600,000 vehicles were claimed by Hurricanes Rita, Katrina and Wilma in 2005, according to CarFax, a service designed to help potential used car buyers track the history of a vehicle.?

?Many of these cars are still showing up for sale around the country,? CarFax notes, the service?s website pointing out that of 75,000 vehicles damaged by 1999?s Hurricane Floyd, ?more than half were put back on the road.?

In some cases, the damage may be minimal and easily repaired, especially if it didn?t reach the engine. Fresh water from flooded streams may have less of an impact than saltwater that can quickly result in extensive corrosion.? But flooding, in general, can cause extensive damage.

?A car?s engine, electronics, fuel system, airbags and brakes are all extremely susceptible to flood water,? said AiM?s Sullivan. ?It?s extremely important to find any water damage before you invest your money in a used car, and a professional inspection will find flood damage no matter how a seller tries to hide it.?

The veteran inspector offers up a number of tips on what a used car buyer should watch for to help catch a vehicle damaged by flooding:

• Water or condensation in the headlights or taillights could be a tip-off to flood-related problems.
• A musty odor in the vehicle, which may be from moldy carpeting or padding. If possible, pull up the carpeting to see how far water may have risen in the vehicle, and also if any moisture remains.?
• Mud in the seat belt tracks or seat belt tensioners.?
• Water in the spare tire well in a vehicle?s trunk.?
• A sagging headliner, particularly on a late-model vehicle.?
• Corrosion in the vehicle?s undercarriage, such as on brake lines or around the fuel tank;

This could be a sign of saltwater damage. It?s different from snow-belt cars which typically get road salt on frame rails, notes AiM. But when corrosion appears near the top of the springs or shock towers are corroded, these are clears signs a vehicle has suffered flood-related damage.

Nation?s Fastest Highway Opens

A close inspection can turn up other tips, says Sullivan, who says he even found two fish under one vehicle?s back seat. ?That was a pretty sure sign the car had been flooded.?

As for what to do if it?s your car that?s been damaged by a flood, your first step is likely to involve checking your insurance policy. Comprehensive policies usually cover flood damage. Liability insurance is likely limited to any damage caused by a collision.

If your vehicle appears to have been involved in flooding, the National Automobile Dealers Association recommends you not try to start it until it?s been thoroughly inspected and cleaned.?

But if possible, take steps to dry out the vehicle as quickly as possible to reduce corrosion and other potential damage.

Flush and replace all fluids and lubricants, including motor oil and transmission fluid, and replace all filters and gaskets that were exposed to water.

Experts suggest brake parts be inspected ? and, if necessary, replaced.? Bearings should also be repacked on rear-wheel-drive vehicles.

Among the parts most vulnerable to damage are electrical components, whether electronic engine controllers, airbag systems or infotainment systems. All wiring and components should be carefully inspected and, if necessary, replaced.

Also check to see if foam, padding and insulation has been soaked. They may not easily release moisture and could quickly develop mold or mildew.

NADA warns that damage from flooding may not begin to become apparent for 90 days or more.

That?s why most flood-damaged vehicles will be declared total losses.

?We?d say that if water got any further than the floor of the car, it?s junk,? said Tom Magliozzi, half of the NPR ?Car Show? team known to fans as Click and Clack.

?

Source: http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/30/14804980-sandy-could-impact-unsuspecting-used-car-buyers?lite

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AMD signs deal with UK chip-maker ARM | The ... - PCR-online.biz

The US firm has announced that it will release its first ARM-based chips in 2014.

Advanced Micro Devices will produce the new chip based on the design produced by ARM and will be used to power computer servers that run websites and smartphone app services.

Making the deal even more significant is the fact that AMD, alongside Intel, has long been the producer of the rival x86 chip architecture.

Rival firms Dell and HP have also announced they plan to produce ARM-based servers.

ARM is set to benefit greatly from the deal, as the Cambridge-based firm only designs and licenses its chip designs and does not manufacture them.

AMD joins a long list of chip makers producing ARM designs, which includes Apple, Samsung, Qualcomm and Nvidia, who already produce the majority of chips that power the mobile devices market.

The move is likely to be a result of the growing demand for servers as more users use internet-connected devices and cloud-based applications.

Want to receive up-to-the-minute tech news straight to your inbox? Then click here?to sign up for the completely free PCR Daily Digest and Newsflash email services. You can also follow PCR on Twitter?and Facebook.

Tags: Intel, Apple, Dell, AMD, HP, Nvidia, Samsung, arm, qualcomm, cloud, us, server, chip, firm

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Source: http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/amd-signs-deal-with-uk-chip-maker-arm/029488

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The 'Alternative' Learning Space: Art, Autonomy and the Institution ...

31 Oct

This is a collection of ideas presented in a much longer essay called The ?Alternative? Learning Space: Art, Autonomy and the Institution.What is the Legitimacy of the Learning environments formed by the Free University Movement In regards to Knowledge Production?

If you would like a copy of the full version please contact paulstewart.art@gmail.com to request a PDF.
Below is the abstract followed by a selection of paragraphs from the paper.

ABSTRACT

This paper concentrates on the creation of the ?alternative? learning space from the free university movement. The rationale is to question if the ?alternative? offers a legitimate concept that can supplement formal modes of learning focusing on four case studies, The Alternative Art College, the Copenhagen Free University, Manoa Free University and the Social Science Centre Lincoln. It will discuss if the spaces in the free university movement can function autonomously, with definitions from Castoriadis and Adorno. To balance the placement of the ?alternative? in the world, it will be compared with the current UK HE sector and gallery and museum education. From this it will also discuss how the institution(s) (HE university, gallery and museums) function through writings from Gerard Raunig and Eilean Hooper ?Greenhill. Alongside this the essay will reference Jacques Ranci?re and Paulo Freire? for their interpretations of pedagogical practices. There will also be an element of practice based research due to the inclusion of my own art practice, the AAC. Finally this essay is not aiming to create a blueprint for a future HE sector but will argue the legitimacy of informal learning put forward by the free university movement.
?Our practical conclusion is the following: we are abandoning all efforts at pedagogical action and moving toward experimental activity? Asger Jorn: ?Notes on the Formation of the Imaginist Bauhaus,? 1957.

?

This is a collection of ideas presented in a much longer essay called The

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Source: http://alternativeartcollege.co.uk/2012/10/31/the-alternative-learning-space-art-autonomy-and-the-institution/

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NASA/NOAA's Suomi NPP captures night-time view of Sandy's landfall

Public release date: 31-Oct-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Rob Gutro
robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov
443-858-1779
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

As Hurricane Sandy made a historic landfall on the New Jersey coast during the night of Oct. 29, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on NASA/NOAA's Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite captured this night-time view of the storm. This image provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison is a composite of several satellite passes over North America taken 16 to18 hours before Sandy's landfall.

The storm was captured by a special "day-night band," which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe dim signals such as auroras, airglow, gas flares, city lights, fires and reflected moonlight. City lights in the south and mid-section of the United States are visible in the image.

William Straka, associate researcher at Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, explains that since there was a full moon there was the maximum illumination of the clouds.

"You can see that Sandy is pulling energy both from Canada as well as off in the eastern part of the Atlantic," Straka said. "Typically forecasters use only the infrared bands at night to look at the structure of the storm. However, using images from the new day/night band sensor in addition to the thermal channels can provide a more complete and unique view of hurricanes at night."

VIIRS is one of five instruments onboard Suomi NPP. The mission is the result of a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Department of Defense.

On Monday, Oct. 29, at 8 p.m. EDT, Hurricane Sandy made landfall 5 miles (10 km) south of Atlantic City, N.J., near 39 degrees 24 minutes north latitude and 74 degrees 30 minutes west longitude. At the time of landfall, Sandy's maximum sustained winds were near 80 mph (130 kph) and it was moving to the west-northwest at 23 mph (37 kph). According to the National Hurricane Center, hurricane-force winds extended outward to 175 miles (280 km) from the center, and tropical-storm-force winds extended 485 miles (780 km). Sandy's minimum central pressure at the time of landfall was 946 millibars or 27.93 inches.

Suomi NPP was launched on Oct. 28, 2011, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. One year later, Suomi NPP has orbited Earth more than 5,000 times and begun returning images and data that provide critical weather and climate measurements of complex Earth systems.

Suomi NPP observes Earth's surface twice every 24-hour day, once in daylight and once at night. NPP flies 512 miles (824 kilometers) above the surface in a polar orbit, circling the planet about 14 times a day. NPP sends its data once an orbit to the ground station in Svalbard, Norway, and continuously to local direct broadcast users.

###

For storm history, images and video of Hurricane Sandy, please visit the following websites:

http://www.nnvl.noaa.gov
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2012/h2012_Sandy.html
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/event.php?id=79504

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 31-Oct-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Rob Gutro
robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov
443-858-1779
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

As Hurricane Sandy made a historic landfall on the New Jersey coast during the night of Oct. 29, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on NASA/NOAA's Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite captured this night-time view of the storm. This image provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison is a composite of several satellite passes over North America taken 16 to18 hours before Sandy's landfall.

The storm was captured by a special "day-night band," which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe dim signals such as auroras, airglow, gas flares, city lights, fires and reflected moonlight. City lights in the south and mid-section of the United States are visible in the image.

William Straka, associate researcher at Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, explains that since there was a full moon there was the maximum illumination of the clouds.

"You can see that Sandy is pulling energy both from Canada as well as off in the eastern part of the Atlantic," Straka said. "Typically forecasters use only the infrared bands at night to look at the structure of the storm. However, using images from the new day/night band sensor in addition to the thermal channels can provide a more complete and unique view of hurricanes at night."

VIIRS is one of five instruments onboard Suomi NPP. The mission is the result of a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Department of Defense.

On Monday, Oct. 29, at 8 p.m. EDT, Hurricane Sandy made landfall 5 miles (10 km) south of Atlantic City, N.J., near 39 degrees 24 minutes north latitude and 74 degrees 30 minutes west longitude. At the time of landfall, Sandy's maximum sustained winds were near 80 mph (130 kph) and it was moving to the west-northwest at 23 mph (37 kph). According to the National Hurricane Center, hurricane-force winds extended outward to 175 miles (280 km) from the center, and tropical-storm-force winds extended 485 miles (780 km). Sandy's minimum central pressure at the time of landfall was 946 millibars or 27.93 inches.

Suomi NPP was launched on Oct. 28, 2011, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. One year later, Suomi NPP has orbited Earth more than 5,000 times and begun returning images and data that provide critical weather and climate measurements of complex Earth systems.

Suomi NPP observes Earth's surface twice every 24-hour day, once in daylight and once at night. NPP flies 512 miles (824 kilometers) above the surface in a polar orbit, circling the planet about 14 times a day. NPP sends its data once an orbit to the ground station in Svalbard, Norway, and continuously to local direct broadcast users.

###

For storm history, images and video of Hurricane Sandy, please visit the following websites:

http://www.nnvl.noaa.gov
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2012/h2012_Sandy.html
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/event.php?id=79504

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/nsfc-nsn103112.php

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Future of Technology in Education ? Pallavi from BAPS

Name of Applicant:?Pallavi Kumari
Grade:?X
School:?BAPS Swaminarayan Vidyamandir
City:?Silvassa
Union Territory:?Dadra and Nagar Haveli
Country: India

Why predict the future? More than an attempt at being Nostradamus, the value is in providing targets against which others may compare their thoughts and to stimulate efforts to either facilitate or inhibit possible futures implied by the predictions. As technology plays a larger role in education, any predictions concerning the future of education must include an analysis of technological trends. The purpose of this paper is to do just that: Analyze the trends in technology and how they relate to education, and then to extrapolate these trends in an attempt to predict the future of technology and education. Much of what is predicted in this paper might offend ardent supporters of our traditional educational system and a large portion of it will probably miss the target substantially. However, it will be clear that as technology is adopted into education, the end result will be change. Introduction Education Today For over a century, education has remained largely unchanged. Classrooms full of students deferring to the wisdom of an all-knowing professor has, is, and many believe, will continue to be the accepted mode of instruction. Despite many technological advances and the introduction of new pedagogical concepts, the majority of today?s classrooms continue to utilize this traditional mode. Educators have thrived in a bubble immune from advancements in technology, but the increasing rate of change of these advances now look to be threatening to burst this bubble. The world is changing ? it is getting both smaller and bigger at the same time. Our world shrinks as technologies now allow us to communicate both synchronously and asynchronously with peers around the world. Conversely, the explosion of information now available to us expands our view of the world. As a result of the ability to communicate globally and the information explosion, education must change. Most educators might not want to change, but the change is coming ? it is a matter of when not if. The challenge is to prepare the children of today for a world that has yet to be created, for jobs yet to be invented, and for technologies yet undreamed. As we will see, the driving forces of Moore?s Law, Metcalfe?s Law, technology fusion, and a changing world economy are redefining the way our children need to be taught. The current teaching paradigm of the teacher as the possessor and transferor of information is shifting to a new paradigm of the Disclaimer: The research materials are collated from web based resources.teacher as a facilitator or coach. This new teacher will provide contextual learning environments that engage students in collaborative activities that will require communications and access to information that only technology can provide. It is no secret that education is slow to change, especially in incorporating new technologies. This is described by Jukes and McCain (1997) as paradigm paralysis, the delay or limit in our ability to understand and use new technology due to previous experiences. It takes new experiences to replace the old ones, and this simply takes time. Unfortunately, education can no longer take the time it wants. The trends in technology are creating a future that is arriving faster than education is preparing for it. We must therefore ask what are these trends and how will education adapt to them? To answer these questions, the techniques of H.G. Wells will be used. Wells, the father of futures studies, ?had a gift for seeing how all the activities of humankind ? social, cultural, technological, economic, political ? fit together to produce a single past, and by extension a single future? (Wagar, 1993, . First we will take a brief look at our past to formulate an understanding of the trends of today. This will be followed by a detailed analysis of these trends. Finally, we will peek into the crystal ball and predict the future of technology and education. The Trends of Today Computers and Moore?s Law In order to understand today?s technological trends, it helps to take a look at how they have developed over the years. Even in education, computers have a long history. For example, the ENIAC, built at the University of Pennsylvania?s Moore School of Electrical Engineering between 1944 and 1946, was the first large-scale general-purpose electronic computer (Goldschmidt & Akera, 1998). It weighed 30-tons, contained 19,000 vacuum tubes, 1,500 relays, and consumed almost 200 kilowatts of electrical power (Weik, 1961). Designed to calculate trajectory tables for new guns, the ENIAC failed on an average of every seven minutes, but when it worked it could compute 10-digit multiplication in 3/1000th of a second ? a huge accomplishment for its day (Jukes & McCain, 1997). More recently, the 1980 model Cray supercomputer was the fastest machine of its day. It cost $12 million, weighed five tons, and consumed 150kW of electricity ? all this and it had only 8MB of RAM and operated at speed of 80 MHz (Jukes & McCain, 1997). By comparison, a used computer today with the same capabilities can be purchased for under $300. Since the popularization of the desktop computer in the 1980s, we have become painfully aware of how quickly computers become outdated. Many of today?s educators point to this trend in their argument against the use of computers. This trend of increased power at lower cost is likely to continue well into the next century and has popularly become known as Moore?s Law, after Gordon Moore, the cofounder of Intel Corporation. In 1965 he suggested (half in jest) that technology doubled in processing power approximately every 18 months and at the same time the price for that technology declined by about 35% a year relative to this power. The accuracy of Mr. Moore?s prediction has proven to be frighteningly accurate. The table below (Tab. 1) illustrates the effects of Moore?s Law from 1984 to 1999, with some minor adjustments. In a 1993 speech, Randall Tobias, the Vice Chairman of AT&T, put Moore?s Law in perspective when he said, ??if we had had similar gains in automotive technology, today you could buy a Lexus for about $2. It would travel at the speed of sound, and go 600 miles on a thimble of gas. It would be only three inches long?but easy to parallel park!? (pg. 244). Disclaimer: The research materials are collated from web based resources.(Assumptions: Every 18 months RAM doubles in size, HD increase 275% in size, CPU speed increases 40%, and cost drops 10%). Moore?s Law 1984 1990 1999 RAM (in Megabytes) 0.13 2 131 HD (in Megabytes) 0.4 23 10000 CPU (in MHz) 10 51 411 Cost $4,000.00 $2,600.00 $1,400.00 Table 1 ? Moore?s Law Taking the reverse stance of education, business and industry have adopted the approach of staying up-to-date with technology. The current economy appears to support the notion that this approach is valid, yet the majority of our schools continue to adopt the approach of remaining several technological generations behind business and industry. The Graphical Interface and Educational Resistance I see no advantage whatsoever to the graphical user interface ?Bill Gates, 1981 The graphical user interface was first developed by Xerox?s Palo Alto Research Center. After a visit to this lab, Steve Jobs, the chairman of Apple Computers, bought the idea and named it Macintosh. ?For many, this event has been heralded as the most significant conceptual breakthrough in the history of PCs? (Jukes & McCain, 1997). Eventually, even the recalcitrant Bill Gates adopted the graphical interface into his Windows operating system. During the 1990s, the graphical interface environment has allowed the general public to use computers in a variety of ways never imagined possible. The skills in operating a computer have become much like those necessary to play a video game ? point there, click the button, and something happens! The generation of video game players, our youth, effectively has become the best audience for computers, yet educators resist using them. Since the large-scale induction of computers into America?s schools in the early 1980s, there has been reluctance of educators to implement them. Teachers can hardly be blamed for this reluctance. A major barrier has been a lack of a universal agreement on how teachers should be prepared to use the technology (Willis & Mehlinger, 1996). This is not cause to write off the personal computer for classroom use. In reference to preparing pre- and in-service teachers, Bull and Cooper (1997) believe, ?it is important to be realistic about the time frame that will be required to accomplish this [integration of technology] in the depth that may be eventually desired? (pg. 101). In fact, the last 15 to 20 years might be viewed more as a time of courtship Disclaimer: The research materials are collated from web based resources.between computers and K-12 educators. Clearly, in order for educators to adopt current technologies an emphasis must be placed on adequately preparing pre- and in-service teachers. Telecommunications/Networks and Metcalfe?s Law As the power of the computer increases, so do the capabilities of communications media including glass fibers, copper wires, and wireless communication systems. For example, scientists at Fujitsu and other companies have demonstrated the capacity to send data over a single strand of glass the diameter of a human hair at a speed of one trillion bits per second (Thornburg, 1997). At this rate the entire Library of Congress could be transmitted in seconds (Molitor, 1998), or 70 million simultaneous voice conversations could be sent on a single fiber (Tobias, 1993). Conventional copper wires cannot compete with these rates of transmission, but by using an Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) transmissions in excess of six million bits per second can be achieved. Many cable television providers are providing broadband services of up to ten million bits per second over copper wire systems as well. Much like the phenomenon with computer memory, as these speeds increase, the cost of using these services decreases. Take for example the consistent decrease in long distance telephone rates over the last few years; the ability to transmit enormous numbers of calls through one wire has driven prices down substantially. The combination of better, cheaper computers and increased bandwidth has caused a boon in the network community (i.e. the Internet). Bob Metcalfe, inventor of the Ethernet, suggested that the power of a network increases proportionally by the square of the number of users. Over time this has become known as Metcalfe?s Law. Like Moore?s Law, Metcalfe?s Law has played a major role in shaping the business world, and now it is beginning to affect education. Simply put, Metcalfe?s Law states that the more people that are connected to a network, the more powerful that network becomes. As millions connect to the Internet, the Network of networks, the power of sharing information and ideas grows. Education is in the business of sharing information and ideas, making Metcalfe?s Law a force that will play a major role in shaping the institution in the years ahead. Internet and the Web The merging of Moore?s Law, Metcalfe?s Law, and easy-to-use graphical interfaces form the foundation of the communication revolution we are now experiencing. The International Data Corporation (IDC) forecasts that 320 million people will be able to access the World Wide Web by 2002. In 1997, 78 million devices connected to the Web; by 2002 this number will increase to 515 million (WISTA, 1998). In 1996, the U.S. Postal Service delivered an astonishing 185 billion pieces of first class mail, yet in that same year the Internet handled about one trillion e-mail messages. Federal Communications Committee Chairman Reed Hunt has said, ?The communication age is connected to the greatest revolution in the history of education since the invention of the printing press? (Thourburg, 1997). Technology Fusion Another event that will likely have a significant impact on education is technology fusion. Twenty years ago we saw sharp distinctions between computers, photos, publishing, TV/video, and telecommunications. Now the distinctions between these media are blurring (see Fig. 1 below). In Disclaimer: The research materials are collated from web based resources.a few more years there will be virtually no distinction between them (Jukes & McCain, 1997) (Land & Portway, No Date). The result of this fusion is the manufacturing of computers that can perform all of the functions that not long ago needed separate devices. The Education Coalition (TEC) considers the merger of computing, television, printing and telecommunications as the most significant trend in education and technology. ?Bringing them together results in the whole having greater impact than each individual part?? (Land & Portway). 1978 1998 2001 Figure 1 (adapted from Jukes, 1997) Economy If education is responsible for preparing its students to be contributing members to the world economy (it is the opinion of the author that this is a responsibility of education), we must consider what type of an economy these students will be entering. In October 1998, The World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WISTA) published a report entitled, Digital Planet, the Global Information Economy. WISTA commissioned International Data Corporation to perform this study which presents the broadest view of current levels of customer spending on information technology and communications ever assembled. The study concluded that spending on information and communications technology (ICT) is a critically important element of the worldwide economy. Below are some of the study?s findings (WISTA, 1998): l ICT was responsible for $1.8 trillion in spending in 1997. l In 1997, ICT spending was nearly 40% larger than in 1992. l ICT spending is growing 27% faster than the overall worldwide Gross Domestic Product. l Spending on ICT is a key accelerator, catalyst, and multiplier of a wide variety of social and economic measures, including company and job growth. l An average of 7,200 new tax-paying ICT companies have been added in the United States during each of the last five years. l 380,000 ?software and service? jobs have been added in the United States during the past five years. l ICT increases overall economic activity. Disclaimer: The research materials are collated from web based resources.With the world economy so intricately tied to information and communications technologies, the careers of today and tomorrow are directly related to these technologies. The Thornburg Center recently conducted a study of the 54 jobs identified by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as having the highest numerical growth between now and the year 2005. Of the 54 jobs, 46 required technological fluency, and none of the remaining eight paid more than double minimum wage (Thorburg, 1997). Technological fluency is more than technological literacy; it requires that an individual be as comfortable using technology as they are reading the newspaper. The lack of technologically fluent workers is already a problem. The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) has warned that one out of ten jobs requiring information technology skills is going unfilled (Thornburg, 1997). Clearly, our educational system is failing to adequately prepare technologically fluent workers, so we must ask what does education need to do to address this problem? The Role of Education Being a Webmaster is one of today?s hottest careers, yet five or six years ago Webmasters did not even exist. This is an example of how education must consider preparing students for jobs that have yet to be created. Alan Greenspan, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, recently said (1997), ?One of the most central dynamic forces [in the economy] is the accelerated expansion of computer and telecommunications technologies?clearly our educational institutions will continue to play an important role in preparing workers to meet these demands? (pg. 98). He also stated, ?workers are facing the likelihood that they will need retooling during their careers?education is increasingly becoming a lifelong activity? (pg. 100). To prepare students to be lifelong learners requires a new approach to teaching, one in which students are taught how to learn on their own. Unfortunately, we don?t have to look hard to find teachers utilizing new technological tools to replicate old educational models. For example, most uses of distance education employ the same instructor delivering the same lecture to the same audience, only now the audience can be larger. This distance education model does nothing to address the concept of lifelong learning. This traditional model still places the student in a passive role, merely absorbing as much information as possible. Instead, more collaborative models of distance education could be employed. For example, The Center for Technology and Teacher Education at the University of Virginia uses live video connections with partner universities to bring together professors and students in a forum where all parties contribute and benefit from the collaborative learning experience. However, the overall dependence on the traditional instructional model dominates the majority of today?s educational system. Much of the failure to utilize technology in education today is, as Thornburg puts it, ?the assumption that content [is] king?in a world of rapid information growth, it is context that matters?context is king? (in Thorburg, 1997, pg. 5). Thornburg advocates that rather than teach students a stockpile of facts to use ?just in case? they might need them some day, that instead learning be put in context ? i.e. master the ability to gather the appropriate facts and then creatively leverage those facts towards the learning objective. Teachers should create situations where the students are required to locate the facts and information specifically related to the context of the question at hand, and then to utilize that information effectively. An example is the Jasper Mathematics series created by the Vanderbilt University?s Peabody College of Education. In these multimedia presentations, students are introduced to characters that are faced with a Disclaimer: The research materials are collated from web based resources.mathematical dilemma that the students help the characters solve. Rather than having students learn facts ?just in case? they might need them some day, the series promotes ?just in time? learning; collaborative learning environments where groups of students find solutions to realworld scenarios. The 1995 Congressional Office of Technology Assessment report entitled Teachers & Technology: Making the Connection, encourages this type of teaching and explained how technology facilitates it (OTA, 1995, pg. 1-2): ?Using technology can change the way teachers teach. Some teachers use technology in ?teacher-centered? ways?On the other hand, some teachers use technology to support more student-centered approaches to instruction, so that students can conduct their own scientific inquiries and engage in collaborative activities while the teacher assumes the role of facilitator or coach.? When the rate of change inside an institution is less than the rate of change outside, the end is in site? Jack Welch.

Source: http://eindia.eletsonline.com/2012/future-of-technology-in-education-pallavi-from-baps-swaminarayan-vidyamandir-silvassa/

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Cursed: This Is Who We Are.

An age old battle, a forbidden romance, and the curse that started it all.

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Asian shares rise, earnings still in focus

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares edged higher on Thursday as signs of recovery in China and the United States eased fears of deteriorating global growth, but sentiment remained vulnerable with weak corporate earnings continuing to undermine investor confidence.

The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.3 percent, having fallen the past four days. Australian shares inched up 0.2 percent with increases in copper and oil prices, while South Korean shares trimmed earlier losses to trade nearly flat ahead of third quarter results from Hyundai Motor Co.

Japan's Nikkei average rose 0.5 percent.

Credit Suisse said in a research note that Asian companies which have already reported third-quarter earnings have only had a slight negative surprise.

"While it is early days in the Asian reporting season with only 58 stocks or 12.3 percent of market capitalisation having reported, so far the change to 2013 estimate consensus EPS for companies that have reported since 30 September is -0.2 percent," it said.

The outlook also improved, with 48 percent of the companies which have reported the latest earnings downgrading forecasts, compared with two-thirds in the previous quarter, it said.

Southeast Asia is becoming one bright spot in a world of gloomy corporate earnings, with strong profit growth powered by a population of 600 million people increasingly willing, and able, to spend in their fast growing economies.

Brent was up 0.2 percent at $108.07 a barrel, after falling for a seventh consecutive session on Wednesday, while U.S. crude was also up 0.2 percent to $85.87, after settling at its lowest since July of $85.73.

London copper added 0.9 percent to $7,885 a tonne.

"I think markets are near their bottom or are bottoming out but investors are still not confident whether to trust positive indicators, putting a cap on prices," said Tetsu Emori, a Tokyo-based commodities fund manager at Astmax Investment.

With stocks consolidating, the yen was pressured as the currency typically strengthens on risk aversion.

The dollar was up 0.2 percent at 79.95 against the yen to hover near its highest since early July of 80.02 touched on Tuesday. The euro was up 0.3 percent at 103.84 against the yen. The Australian dollar also rose 0.4 percent to 82.89 against the yen.

U.S. stocks fell and the dollar gained on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve maintained its policy of stimulating growth until the job market improves, even as it acknowledged some brightening parts of the economy.

The dollar index which is measured against a basket of major currencies reached a two week high of 80.151 on Wednesday after the Fed's decision.

The euro was up 0.1 percent at $1.2984, off a near two-week low of $1.29205 on Wednesday.

There was further evidence of recovery picking up in the U.S. housing market as new single-family home sales surged in September to their highest level in nearly 2-1/2 years.

But weak earnings outlooks and revenue misses at large U.S. multinationals made investors nervous about a slowing economy, and a Fed statement which did not mention an improving U.S. labour market, combined to push U.S. stocks lower.

European shares halted a three-day slide on Wednesday, comforted by a survey of purchasing managers signalling that China's economy is making a slow, steady recovery from its weakest period of growth in three years, with new orders and output at their highest in months.

The Chinese report lifted European oil and mining stocks on hopes for firmer demand from the world's top consumer of raw materials, offsetting dismal European manufacturing reports.

The euro zone's purchasing managers index fell to the lowest level since June 2009 in October, while manufacturing index in Germany, Europe's largest economy, fell unexpectedly and its business sentiment dropped for the sixth consecutive month to its lowest in more than 2-1/2 years.

As investors wait for clarify on the bailout prospects for struggling Spain and Greece, the head of the Spanish Treasury told Reuters on Wednesday that the country is ready to start funding itself for 2013 after having nearly completed its debt issuance plan for this year.

(Editing by Michael Perry)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asian-shares-rise-earnings-still-focus-023004416--finance.html

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Moderate drinking decreases number of new brain cells

ScienceDaily (Oct. 24, 2012) ? Drinking a couple of glasses of wine each day has generally been considered a good way to promote cardiovascular and brain health. But a new Rutgers University study indicates that there is a fine line between moderate and binge drinking -- a risky behavior that can decrease the making of adult brain cells by as much as 40 percent.

In a study posted online and scheduled to be published in the journal Neuroscience on November 8, lead author Megan Anderson, a graduate student working with Tracey J. Shors, Professor II in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience in the Department of Psychology, reported that moderate to binge drinking -- drinking less during the week and more on the weekends -- significantly reduces the structural integrity of the adult brain.

"Moderate drinking can become binge drinking without the person realizing it," said Anderson."In the short term there may not be any noticeable motor skills or overall functioning problems, but in the long term this type of behavior could have an adverse effect on learning and memory."

Shors and Anderson worked with postdoctoral fellow Miriam Nokia from the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland to model moderate to heavy drinking in humans using rodents that reached a blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent -- the legal driving limit in the United States and many other countries -- and found that brain cell production was affected negatively.

The researchers discovered that at this level of intoxication in rats -- comparable to about 3-4 drinks for women and five drinks for men -- the number of nerve cells in the hippocampus of the brain were reduced by nearly 40 percent compared to those in the abstinent group of rodents. The hippocampus is a part of the brain where the new neurons are made and is also known to be necessary for some types of new learning.

This level of alcohol intake was not enough to impair the motor skills of either male or female rats or prevent them from associative learning in the short-term. Still, Anderson said, th

is substantial decrease in brain cell numbers over time could have profound effects on the structural plasticity of the adult brain because these new cells communicate with other neurons to regulate brain health.

"If this area of your brain was affected every day over many months and years, eventually you might not be able to learn how to get somewhere new or to learn something new about your life," said Anderson, a graduate fellow in the Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology. "It's something that you might not even be aware is occurring."

According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, men who drink 14 drinks a week and women who drink seven are considered at-risk drinkers. Although college students commonly binge drink, according to the institute, 70 percent of binge drinking episodes involved adults age 26 and older.

"This research indicates that social or daily drinking may be more harmful to brain health than what is now believed by the general public," she said.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Rutgers University. The original article was written by Robin Lally.

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Journal Reference:

1. M.L. Anderson, M.S. Nokia, K.P. Govindaraju, T.J. Shors. Moderate drinking? Alcohol consumption significantly decreases neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus. Neuroscience, 2012; 224: 202 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.08.018

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/0fIxn3FWv74/121024164759.htm

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Facebook grey-bar-type-widget transparency

This is a discussion on Facebook grey-bar-type-widget transparency within the Droid RAZR M forums, part of the Droid RAZR Forum category; Hello guys! Wondering if anyone has figured out how to add transparency to this widget: grey-bar-type Facebook widget that gives you the option to go ...

1. Hello guys!
   Wondering if anyone has figured out how to add transparency to this widget: grey-bar-type Facebook widget that gives you the option to go straight to post, take a pic and check in without opening the app.
   I know it has been done with the Pandora widget so just wondering if anyone has put their eyes and skills on improving this useful-to me- widget.

   Thanks

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Buffalo milk mozzarella or buffaloed consumers? New test can provide the answer

Public release date: 24-Oct-2012
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Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society

Those tiny balls of boutique mozzarella cheese with the sticker-shock price tag beckoning from the dairy case are they the real deal, mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP, crafted from the milk of water buffaloes? Or are they really cheap fakes made from cow's milk? A new method described in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry promises to provide the answer for mozzarella and other dairy products.

Barbara van Asch and colleagues explain that premium dairy products, such as imported specialty cheeses labeled with a designation of origin, are most vulnerable to adulteration. Unscrupulous manufacturers may substitute a less costly ingredient for an expensive one or skimp on high-quality ingredients. Previous studies show that the problem is widespread, with bogus dairy products surfacing in Italy, Spain, China, India and other countries. Current methods of detecting fakes can't simultaneously detect cow, goat, sheep and buffalo milks the ones most likely to be involved in adulteration and have other drawbacks. The scientists thus set out to develop a better test.

They describe development and successful laboratory testing of such a test on 96 dairy products commercially available in Europe, including cheeses, milks, yogurts and butters. About 12 percent of the products did not contain ingredients listed on the labels. For example, one product label indicated that it was made from 100 percent sheep milk. The test, however, showed that it also contained ingredients from cows and goats.

###

The authors acknowledge funding from Fundao para a Cincia e a Tecnologia (FCT).

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 164,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 24-Oct-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society

Those tiny balls of boutique mozzarella cheese with the sticker-shock price tag beckoning from the dairy case are they the real deal, mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP, crafted from the milk of water buffaloes? Or are they really cheap fakes made from cow's milk? A new method described in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry promises to provide the answer for mozzarella and other dairy products.

Barbara van Asch and colleagues explain that premium dairy products, such as imported specialty cheeses labeled with a designation of origin, are most vulnerable to adulteration. Unscrupulous manufacturers may substitute a less costly ingredient for an expensive one or skimp on high-quality ingredients. Previous studies show that the problem is widespread, with bogus dairy products surfacing in Italy, Spain, China, India and other countries. Current methods of detecting fakes can't simultaneously detect cow, goat, sheep and buffalo milks the ones most likely to be involved in adulteration and have other drawbacks. The scientists thus set out to develop a better test.

They describe development and successful laboratory testing of such a test on 96 dairy products commercially available in Europe, including cheeses, milks, yogurts and butters. About 12 percent of the products did not contain ingredients listed on the labels. For example, one product label indicated that it was made from 100 percent sheep milk. The test, however, showed that it also contained ingredients from cows and goats.

###

The authors acknowledge funding from Fundao para a Cincia e a Tecnologia (FCT).

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 164,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/acs-bmm102412.php

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Japanese Dessert Recipes: Dive Into Mochi, Dorayaki And Kanten ...

After getting super excited about a mochi kneading machine a few weeks ago, our minds have been stuck on the world of Japanese dessert recipes.

Most of us have probably had ice cream-filled mochi or a scoop of green tea ice cream, but we wanted to dig down into some more traditional and more interesting options. What we found: a lot of red beans. Japanese cuisine uses sweetened adzuki bean paste in more applications than you can imagine. Also ubiquitous, mochi: a glutinous, chewy rice cake that we have fallen completely in love with. Mochi can be a dumpling in a sweet dessert soup, baked, fried, stuffed with green tea cream -- the possibilities begin to feel endless. One last finding: Japanese desserts are some of the most beautiful, meticulously crafted sweets we've ever seen.

We are by no means experts on the subject, only excited, hungry novices. If you have a favorite Japanese dessert that we've missed, please let us know in the comments so that we can go eat it!

Want to read more from HuffPost Taste? Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Tumblr.

• Dorayaki

  <strong>Get the <a href="http://justonecookbook.com/blog/recipes/dorayaki-japanese-red-bean-pancake/">Dorayaki recipe from Just One Cookbook</a></strong> Dorayaki are soft, fluffy pancakes, usually stuffed with red bean paste, nutella or matcha cream.

• Anmitsu

  <strong>Get the <a href="http://greencilantro.blogspot.com/2011/07/anmitsu-japanese-dessert.html">Anmitsu recipe from Green Cilantro</a></strong> Anmitsu is made of small cubes of agar agar (Japanese gelatin) in a brown sugar syrup. It's garnished with sweet red bean paste, mochi, ice cream, fruit -- basically whatever you can think of.

• Daifuku Mochi

  <strong>Get the <a href="http://globetrotterdiaries.com/recipes/daifuku-mochi-sweet-rice-cake-eating-japan">Daifuku Mochi recipe from Globetrotter Diaries</a></strong> Mochi, the beloved glutinous rice cake can be stuffed with just about any dessert ingredient you can think of, but often it's sweet red bean paste.

• Vanilla Kiwi Kanten

  <strong>Get the <a href="http://thecookieshopinenglish.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/cala-a-boca-galvao-vanillakiwi-kanten-jelly/">Vanilla Kiwi Kanten recipe from The Cookie Shop</a></strong> Kanten is a Japanese gelatin dessert made from agar agar. These delicate treats are almost always served with tea.

• Black Sesame Ice Cream

  <strong>Get the <a href="http://justonecookbook.com/blog/recipes/black-sesame-ice-cream/">Black Sesame Ice Cream recipe from Just One Cookbook</a></strong> Japanese ice cream flavors are always amazing, from red bean, to matcha to black sesame, they tend to be one of the less-sweet options.

• Japanese Cheesecake

  <strong>Get the <a href="http://www.sprinklebakes.com/2011/08/in-dreams-cotton-soft-japanese.html">Japanese Cheesecake recipe from SprinkleBakes</a></strong> The Japanese have a special way with cheesecake. Part light-as-air sponge cake, part cheesecake, the finished product gets sprinkled with matcha powder and topped with fresh fruit.

• Ichigo Daifuku

  <strong>Get the <a href="http://peegaw.tumblr.com/post/6448522407/making-ichigo-daifuku">Ichigo Daifuku recipe from Notions & Notations of a Novice Cook</a></strong> Another variation on stuffed mochi, these are filled with red bean paste and a whole strawberry. Best cross-section ever, right?

• Taiyaki

  <strong>Get the <a href="http://mamaloli.com/recipes/dessert/taiyaki-recipe/#.UIWyfmk-vRc">Taiyaki recipe from Mamololi</a></strong> Taiyaki are little fish-shaped waffles stuffed with chocolate, custard or red bean paste. You can pick up a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Taiyaki-Japanese-Fish-Shaped-Cake-Maker/dp/B00065YBEU">taiyaki pan on Amazon.</a>

• Sakura Jelly

  <strong>Get the <a href="http://hungerhunger.blogspot.jp/2011/10/sakura-jelly.html">Sakura Jelly recipe from Hunger Hunger</a></strong> Sakura (cherry blossoms) are pickled, then set in a beautiful jelly, which rests on top of cherry and white chocolate mousse. We are absolutely obsessed with this dessert.

• Sweet Red Bean Soup With Mochi Balls

  This is total Japanese comfort food -- a warm, sweet red bean soup, studded with mochi.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/23/japanese-dessert-recipes_n_2003609.html

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Expert Advice on Web-Based CRM Software | Business.com Blog

For start-ups, communication between the marketing, sales and customer service department is simple; all the business owner has to do is talk to herself.

But if the start-up starts to grow, these jobs ? once handled by one person ? are delegated to new hires. The result? Communication becomes more fragmented.

Cue CRM software.

CRM software streamlines not only the customer experience ? by consolidating all information and communication with customers into an easily accessible database ?? but it also improves the overall business process, eliminating redundant work and errors.

We recently caught up with Ian Moyse, the sales director at Workbooks.com, a cloud CRM vendor. Among many accolades and awards, Moyse was named one of the top 200 cloud channel experts in the world in 2011 and was first in the United Kingdom to pass the CompTIA Cloud Essentials specialty certification exam earlier this year.

I have used a varying range of CRM systems in my directorship roles over the past 20+ years including?Workbooks.com, Salesforce, Siebel, Sugar, Netsuite and Superoffice, and now work as sales director at Workbooks. Having run a number of teams ? from smaller start-up businesses to large, multinational sales teams ? I have experience ?of the needs of a CRM from a customer perspective and also the frustrations often experienced. CRM is a solution and outcome decision, not a technology driven one.

What are the advantages of using CRM software?

CRM used correctly can be transformational for a business, not only allowing all accessing it to have a common and consistent view of a customer?s information, activities and communications, but also improving business processes, removing duplication and errors and driving efficiency. CRM can extend outside of the traditional sales and marketing to encompass support, finance, operations and to drive better interaction across departments.

What are some of the most popular functions of this software? In your opinion, what are some of the most underused functions?

CRM typically gets led by a sales and marketing requirement and the most common uses begin from managing contact details to storing email conversations and activities that have occurred around this customer. The real benefit jumps to a company, however, come when? you integrate and bring together the varying other interactions and parts of the business with the CRM. These include marketing campaigns and tracking spending and success/failures to enable smart decisions and future activity planning. Operations and finance being integrated can greatly benefit the organization ? allowing sales to have visibility of what a customer has ordered, is licensed for, has paid before, is due to renew, etc. and allowing easy visibility of what a customer has bought, are they up to date with their support contract, have they paid, etc.

Workbooks customer Adam Smith, Managing Director of Rawnet, commented: ?Prior to implementing Workbooks, invoicing was such a manual process, but with Workbooks it?s so easy. Once an order is completed we can convert this into an invoice at the click of a button, and it is linked with Sage and raised automatically. Raising invoices is no longer a big task.?

What types of businesses would benefit most from CRM software?

Businesses of all sorts, sizes and across industries can benefit from a good CRM platform to underpin its information and customer interactions. It is key, however, that businesses choose the right CRM platform for their business needs and do not get distracted by brand or technology features. Increasingly, sales teams are on the road or dispersed across the country and others may be working from home. This geographic freedom offers significant benefits t0 businesses, but can make it difficult for business leaders to keep track of sales activity and progress as well as productivity of its workers.

At Workbooks, we have customers across all industries and are experiencing a large increase in companies moving from legacy contact management type on network platforms ? such as ACT and Goldmine ? to more robust and effective cloud-based fully fledged CRM solutions such as Workbooks.

When should a business think about implementing CRM software?

The simple truth is that too many organizations buy an off-the-shelf CRM solution, without first considering what business issues they really want to address. The old saying goes that ?if you don?t know where you?re going, any road will get you there,? and this is true with CRM.

A CRM solution should be a serious consideration if a business finds they are duplicating customer information in silos in the business and are not able to easily see all communications that have been made with a client or prospect. It should also be considered if the company does not have easy and quick ways to gather management information on issues such as which clients have not renewed, who places the most support calls, the correlation between sales and the client calls and visits made, and what marketing expenditures work and what are wasted.

Additionally, if you find much of your business ? such as renewals, forecasts and reports ? are difficult to get and end up being run on spreadsheets, it is likely time for a more effective and consistent CRM delivery method. CRM done well can have a dramatic benefit to the business.

What are the advantages of cloud computing??

Cloud delivery of CRM (delivered over the internet as Software as a Service, SaaS) has a great deal of benefits, especially for the smaller business that typically cannot afford the cost and time to build the resilience and security into a system run internally. Using a cloud CRM, such as?Workbooks.com, enables a customer to quickly switch on the service and log straight in. No hardware to buy or set up, no software to install and maintain and upgrade.

As a hosted provider, we provide CRM service from multiple, highly-secure and resilient data centers, enabling a customer to simply use and not worry about the backups, the resilience to ensure availability (which we guarantee at 99.5 percent of the year) and the security where we have invested and built highly-secure systems using security experts and involving regular penetration testing by third parties.

Customers also get an easy way to allow user access across multiple offices, locations or from mobile devices without any IT setup or complications at their end.

What do you do to ensure security for businesses using your web-based software?

Workbooks treats Information Security as its top operational priority. The service can only be secure through the application of rigorous policies at many levels in its implementation. We employ a wide range of security approaches to ensure the top level security possible is delivered to our clients. We maintain physical security on our multiple data centers through their being located in inconspicuous buildings with 24-7 manned security, CCTV-monitored data centers with biometric systems, and certified entry procedures.

We provide network security through the application of multiple layers of protection, including packet filters/ACLs, firewalls, and other techniques which are confidential.

All Workbooks systems are also carefully designed by a team of cloud and security experts with many years experience of delivering hosted solutions. We employ regularly third party expert penetration testing and are approved as part of the Governments G-Cloud program as a cloud provider to the public sector.

Why do you think it?s important for sales, marketing, customer service, etc. to be integrated? How does your software aid communication between these different groups?

Our belief is that CRM can not only bring these departments together, but finance as well.? Having one coherent view of a customer or prospective customer enables a business to better engage, service and deliver to their own and customers? expectations.

Workbooks enables all these groups to achieve such visibility and information easily and intuitively, and unlike other CRM systems, also brings information to the CRM view from and to a customer?s finance system, giving sales and admin the ability to quote, process orders and invoices all within the CRM interface.

What happens if the company grows? Can CRM systems grow with the business?

Sure, if a CRM solution is implemented well, users will use it. If they use it, its value grows as the customer profiles and information you store gains increasing value to your business. Hence new users joining will want and need access to the CRM. A cloud-based system makes adding these simple and quick as you can remotely enable the growth of users and not worry about locally having to take action on extra hardware performance, license purchasing and activations.

What questions should a company shopping for a new CRM system ask themselves before looking?

A business should ask and define the outcome they wish to achieve. Is it ?

• Increased sales?
• Improved efficiency?
• Better reporting, shared information across the business?

We recommend putting together a needs and wants document across departments and delegating input from each area of the business. We provide customers an open requirements collection document that they can use to gather this information. This provides a starting point for engagement with any CRM vendor, as we feel this is a key fundamental first step on the journey to a successful CRM outcome.

What are the biggest mistakes a company makes when they?re shopping for a new system?

Implementing a CRM system for any sort of business is not without its challenges, but for small- and mid-sized companies without dedicated IT teams or budgets, it can be even more difficult.

In order for any CRM project to be a success, there needs to be clarity on what success actually looks like. We speak to many organizations that ?feel? they need a CRM system, but are not entirely sure what it could deliver and how it will benefit the business. We encourage these organizations to really consider what they are trying to achieve by investing in a CRM project and how their business might be different in six to 12 months with a successfully deployed solution.

CRM projects cost time and money and may demand a change in working practices. This means that for any CRM project to be successful, there must be the support from business leadership. We would recommend establishing a project team right from the outset which includes managers and users. We would also recommend you empower the user representatives to be ?project champions,? tasked with explaining to their colleagues why the CRM project is being started, what value it delivers to the business, and ensuring they get feedback on issues or concerns from their peers.

One of the most important factors for a business should be to understand how much focus and support you are likely to get from your CRM provider.

How can CRM software reduce operational costs?

CRM can help reduce costs in a multitude of ways, from providing visibility of earlier actions needed on a sales engagement to more effective working of renewals to better customer support information. In the Workbooks system, that means more effective cash collection and improved communication across all internal departments regarding customer matters.

How can it improve customer service?

CRM in itself does not improve customer service, but for the committed organization and team it can be a powerful tool that enables consistent interaction and communication with customers, and empowers actions to be taken at the right time.

For a salesperson contacting a client, knowing a customer has an open support call, hasn?t paid, or has made a complaint to another department can be a key decision-maker on the approach taken. For the business knowing that more sales are lost because of a specific function or lost to a common competitor can change the training sales gets or the tools provided to them.

Understanding what sort of customers buy quickest or renew the least can allow key decisions to be made.? Having a CRM that is intuitive to use ? meaning that users put data into it ? increases the value and information you can get out and drives increased use, thus becoming an upward positive spiral.

How has this software changed and/or improved in the past 5 years

The latest hype is Social CRM, ensuring customers? social media interactions are captured and such discussions are recorded. In reality, most small- to medium-sized companies need to get the fundamentals of a strong CRM outcome first, before running to the new world of Social CRM. You should ask is this a key for your business interactions with customers right now or is it overkill and is technology hype pushing a step too far, too soon.

Source: http://www.business.com/blog/expert-advice-on-web-based-crm-software/

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